Nighttide Star

by Vertigo-01

Chapter 12 - The Hell Inside Her Head

“Bum bum bum ba-da-da bum bum bum bum—”

Pinkie marched along at the back of the group, humming a tune to go along with the pace. It was cute for perhaps a few seconds, but a couple of ponies quickly grew tired of it.

“Piiiinkie,” Rainbow Dash groaned loudly from ahead, “will you please stop doing that?”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow as she paused to reply. “Got any requests?”

“I have one,” Applejack said from aside. “It’s called ‘Hush Lil’ Filly,’ and it goes like this!” Applejack went silent as she walked on.

Pinkie waited a moment for a response, but when it didn’t come, she barked back, “Hey, you did that on purpose!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack snickered under their breath as they continued ahead. Fluttershy could be seen off to the side shaking her head.

But at the head of the group, the air hung a little heavier. Spike was now riding on Twilight’s back, who walked between Rarity and Nighttide. Nighttide had put the journal back in her suit, which was once again thumping softly against the metal inside. It wouldn’t have bothered her so much if the binding wasn’t so big, but with each step she took, she could feel its weight travel.

Rarity leaned in toward Twilight as they continued forward. “I’m really worried about this, Twilight. What if the same thing happens to you again?” She blinked. “Or to me, for that matter? Goodness, isn’t it enough that I’ve put up with being wet and dirty for hours now?”

Twilight sighed. “I’m worried as well, Rarity. But I just don’t see what good running would do at this point. Say we go back to Ponyville. Then what?”

“Try contacting the Princess again?” Nighttide suggested. “I understand how you feel, Twilight, but I’m also with Rarity. This went from weird, to comical, to downright dangerous in just a few hours’ time.”

Twilight cocked an eye at the grey mare. “Please, do enlighten me as to the part that was comical in all this.”

Nighttide shook her head and smiled. “If only you knew just how fairy-tale your land really was to a pony like me.”

Twilight returned an offended look, which Rarity noticed. “Now Twilight, don’t get too upset at the dear. Remember that comic book we were pulled into recently?”

Nighttide’s ears perked up. “Pulled into?”

“As in, we were sucked into the world of the comic book, yes,” Twilight answered, casting a glare at the baby dragon on her back.

Spike blushed. “H-hey, it’s not like I knew that would happen!”

Nighttide’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you guys can really do that here?” Her voice became airy. “Screw virtual reality, I’m gonna stay here forever.”

Twilight shook her head and smirked as the others giggled. But as quickly as the brevity arrived, it was lost, as the whistling sound of magic began to echo through the corridor ahead of them.

“Come on, girls,” Twilight shouted back to the rest. “Sounds like we’re headed in the right direction.”

__________

About a minute after they first heard the whistling, the group found themselves galloping into a modestly sized cavern. And standing in the middle was a familiar pony.

“Is that…?” Twilight could see a blue stallion standing with his back toward them. Six objects placed in various corners of the room cast a dark blue magic toward the ceiling, and the group noticed a set of strange symbols glowing white overhead.

Twilight sat Spike down behind her before walking ahead. “Riptide. What are you doing here?”

The stallion continued to face away, looking upward at the ceiling. “I’m sorry, Princess Twilight.”

“Huh?” Twilight murmured as Nighttide walked up beside her. The two moved to take another step forward.

“Don’t come any closer!” Riptide barked back. “It’s too dangerous!”

Twilight recoiled a hoof. “Wh-what do you mean?”

She could see him shake his head ever so slightly while still looking overhead. “This was a mistake after all.”

The two mares sat down behind Riptide. After a moment, Twilight spoke again. “Riptide, we found your journal. Can you tell us what’s going on here?”

The stallion sighed. “I’m glad of that much… I’m assuming the magic has already affected you?”

Twilight tilted her head. “Y-yes. As well as one of my friend’s. Was that not you?”

“I’m afraid not.” Riptide’s horn began to glow a baby blue. Twilight and Nighttide motioned to gallop ahead to stop him, but then he spoke again. “The magic being cast in here is not in my control. I set up these devices around the room in hopes of absorbing the magic myself, but… the numbers were right. I simply am not capable of handling it myself.”

“And why should we believe anything you have to say?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she hovered beside Twilight. “You kidnapped our friends!”

“Hold on, Rainbow.” Twilight put a hoof up to stop her. “Riptide, why are you so insistent on pursuing this magic?”

“It’s no longer that, Princess.” He paused for a moment. “Do you remember when I had you captive, the device that appeared to be casting magic on you?”

“Of course.”

“It was supposed to be analyzing your magical capabilities. As it turns out, it was doing more than just that… it was also absorbing yours.” Riptide sounded strangely apologetic.

Twilight didn’t understand the inflection in his voice. “Was that not your intent?”

“No. It was not. I have used these devices in the past both to control negative magic, as well as to record information for my research. I’ve never had a problem with gathering figures from my observations, but I had no idea that the devices were also absorbing the magic of those things it interacted with. Namely myself, and you.”

“I don’t understand,” Nighttide interjected. “What exactly does that mean?”

“If you all read the journal, then you know that I became obsessed with my research. I was more than aware of that fact, but I persisted anyway. A fatal trait of my character, I’m afraid…” Turning his head slightly in their direction, he continued, “The reason I captured you, Twilight, was in hopes of finding a way to control the magic safely. While the devices I built are able to harness the magic well enough – as you read, one of them malfunctioned some time ago. I knew then that I required the magical prowess of someone stronger than myself - it was no longer just the ideal method. But when I woke up and found you had all escaped from my ship, I went with a backup plan.”

“These ponies really need to learn to cut to the chase,” Nighttide muttered to herself. “Let’s try this question, then. Do you know what happened to Twilight?”

“I actually had no idea anything happened, but I had a hunch.” He paused for a second as he adjusted his stance. “What you are witnessing here is negative magic… or whatever this really is, coming together in its natural habitat to coalesce and choose a worthy host.”

Twilight's ears folded back, eyes widening. “W-worthy host?”

“There’s not enough time for me to explain here in full. The simplest way I can put it is, this magic is sentient. It is only barely magic. It’s more like a life-form all of its own.” Riptide leaned his head further back in their direction to meet their gaze. “And I’m afraid Star Swirl knew this himself.”

“How so?” Nighttide said.

The stallion frowned, hanging his head slightly as he redirected his attention forward. “Star Swirl learned early on during his student’s endeavors that this was a deadly, uncontrollable form of magic that nopony should ever learn to use, let alone even know of its existence. I learned that much after years of re-reading Spinel’s work that I found along with Equestria’s ancient history. The basis of the magic you see here was actually a phenomenon they discovered in the caverns of Maretania, as you read in my journal. But I think I’m beginning to understand now why the Princesses had this information locked away…

“For years, I’ve tried incorporating principles of my own into my research and development of what I called ‘negative magic’, a derivative of what you see here, hoping that I could find a way to tame the darkness that lurked within.” He paused for a moment. “This magic is everything that I described it as on my ship, and so much more... but in the worst way possible.”

Just then, the symbols above began to glow brighter, making some nearby rocks cast harsh shadows against the ground. “Everypony, stand back!” Riptide shouted. As his horn began to glow more intensely, he lifted his head and sighed. “All my research… I knew better than this. I always knew better. Perhaps now I can begin to set things straight once again.”

Riptide shot a bright blue beam toward the center of the ceiling. The devices around the room burned an intensely deep blue and began to hover over the surfaces they rested on as the darker blue magic above turned black. Riptide slowly began to hover in place as everypony watched in shock.

“Riptide, stop!” Twilight shouted, spreading her wings to take flight.

“HEY, what are you doing!” Nighttide galloped forward and grabbed her tail with her mouth as everyone else ran to help her.

Suddenly, Riptide’s body was shrouded in a dark aura. He shouted from what sounded like pain as the darkness enveloped his barrel, then his legs, neck, and finally his head. Twilight fought desperately to get out of everypony’s grasp, but before she could, the dark aura around Riptide expanded. Soon, the entire room was covered in pitch black.

And then, there was silence.

__________

Twilight was engulfed in darkness for some time. She wasn’t sure for how long exactly, but it felt like days. Maybe months. Or perhaps it was seconds? The feeling was incoherent and frustrating, and she didn’t like the uncertainty that came with it.

But then, very slowly, a sound began to break the silence. It was a constant sound – at first a low whine, then a slow chopping noise. She thought it sounded like hoof-steps for a moment, but that wasn’t quite it. It was something strangely similar. She wasn’t sure if she had heard it before herself, but something about the sound was familiar.

As she slowly opened her eyes, colors and shapes began to align themselves into view. Before long, she found herself inside a strange flying machine. The sound that she was hearing wasn’t of hoof-steps at all. In fact, it was—

“A helicopter.” The words came out of her mouth almost as if they had been planted there.

Twilight sat in the passenger compartment of a large helicopter, preparing for take-off somewhere in the middle of a city. It was early morning, and she remembered that she had only just managed to get her daughter off to school before being called in to an emergency meeting at work. The moment she arrived, a military official told her to follow him.

Twilight looked down at herself and noticed she was wearing a black uniform with a full moon emblazoned on the flank. There were three other ponies in the passenger compartment as well, and two more she could just make out in the cockpit.

Somepony shouted a name to her. She couldn’t catch what it was, but she knew they were addressing her. “Yes, what is it, Colonel?” she responded instinctively.

“I’m sorry to have to drag you out like this, but we’ve received intel of a planned attack on the Ferin Sha.”

Twilight’s ears twitched at the word. She had heard that name before somewhere. She blinked for a second before shaking her head. ‘Of course I’ve heard of it,’ she thought to herself, ‘why wouldn’t I have?’

“What are the details?” she shouted back over the sound of the propellers to the Colonel, a black stallion who wore a dark grey uniform similar to her own.

“We’re not sure yet, but at approximately 0300 hours, DIRE spec-ops encountered what we originally believed to be a guerrilla team planting high-grade explosives near the Ferin Sha.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Just how high a grade are we talking about?”

The Colonel looked her in the eyes. “Thermonuclear.”

Twilight sat back in her hard vinyl seat and took a moment to let the information set in. “You said ‘originally believed to be guerrilla.’ What exactly does that imply?”

“There is a possibility they are working either with or directly under the authority of the Kidesh Union. Our interrogators managed to get one pony from the group to share some vital info pertaining to how they obtained the explosives. If our intel is correct, there could be other splinter groups setting up similar devices elsewhere right now.”

Twilight looked out the compartment down at her hometown of Hiigara. The wind of the propellers above streaked a single tear across her cheek as her eyes watered from the fumes of the exhaust. She turned back to the Colonel. “What’s our next move?”

“That’s where you come in. Since you’re the director of advanced weapons R&D, we could use your help in tying up some loose ends, particularly with how to safely disarm the bombs if it become necessary.” The Colonel paused for a moment to swipe aside his bangs, which Twilight noticed amusingly were just a touch longer than what was supposed to be military grooming guidelines. “It’s been a few years since we dealt with a nuclear threat, and you guys are the specialists. The more minds and hooves we have working the case, the quicker we can take action.”

Twilight sighed. There was no denying the gravity of the situation. “Understood.” Her position at AW-R&D had been one plagued mostly with office work over recent years. But with tensions rising against the Kidesh Union, she knew that a day could come when the military would eventually pull her away from the malaise of her desk, and back into the fray. She was torn by the thought - once upon a time, the idea of doing something tangible again would have been appealing. But she had someone - technically two someones - with whom she now preferred to spend her time at home.

The helicopter flew over a bay near the city and out over a stretch of woods. Slowly, the sounds and images began to fade, and her memory sped through darker, fleeting images of ponies and paperwork. Eventually, she found herself standing on a concrete sidewalk in front of a suburban rowhouse.

“Home.” Twilight heaved a sigh as she fiddled in her saddlebag for her keys. The nearest amber streetlamp was too far and the evening light too dark for her to see into the pouches, so she stepped up to the threshold of her house under the stoop light and tried again. Once she found them, she unlocked the door and walked inside, turning on an overhead light. Again, her memory faded, and dark images of a kitchen and a television quickly passed by. Eventually, she found herself putting towels up in the hallway closet upstairs.

Then she heard the front door open.

A small filly with a black and green mane walked through the entryway. Twilight’s heart warmed at the sight of her. She didn’t want to let on she had been gone most of the evening herself, so instead, she did what any good parent would: she put on her best poker face.

As she walked downstairs, she spoke an inaudible word, then continued in a stern voice. “…I told you to be back by eight!”

“I know. I’m sorry.” The filly shifted a little in place. “It’s not like I knew what time it was!”

Twilight tilted her head slightly and gave the filly a stern look. She noticed the mud around her hooves. “You walked to the Ferin Sha, didn’t you?”

The filly’s ears flicked back. “W-well, I’m a big pony, after all!” She raised her head and puffed out her chest, trying to look serious. “I just wanted to go by myself for once.”

“For once?” Twilight sighed and let a smile break through her serious expression as she lowered her head until it was level with the filly’s. “My little explorer. What ever am I going to do with you?” She picked the filly up and placed her on her back as she carefully walked up the stairs to the bathroom.

Twilight was just relieved that she hadn’t run into anything or anyone dangerous while at the Ferin Sha, especially given the news. She let the thought wisp by as she placed the filly into the bathtub, filled with a sea of bubbles. The filly laughed as Twilight scrubbed her coat vigorously, working out the mud that she collected on her adventure.

But before long, Twilight found herself tucking the filly into bed. The day finally coming to a close, she sat down and took a deep breath as she looked down at her foal with a warm smile. Then came the sound of the front door again.

“Daddy!” the filly shouted, causing Twilight to lean back and rub her nearest ear.

Twilight instinctively walked to the door and called out into the hall. “Hey sweetie, come help me tuck her in.”

She could hear heavy hoof-steps walk up the stairs, then a dark silhouette made its way into the room. Twilight couldn’t make out any distinguishing features, but she felt perfectly comfortable around him.

Then, there was darkness, and the low hum of the city around them.

__________

Twilight tossed in her sleep. Slowly, she woke up and reached a hoof over to the other side of the bed and felt her husband sleeping like a log, as usual. She was about to sit up to get some water when suddenly, a familiar voice in her head whispered.

“Go back to sleep…”

Twilight blinked her heavy eyes in the dark of the bedroom. She shook her head a little, then came the voice again.

“Go back to sleep…”

“Go back… to sleep…” Twilight mumbled to herself. She laid her head back down on the pillow and shuffled herself under the covers some more. As she closed her eyes, a cold sensation ran over her. It didn’t make her shiver, but it did frighten her. And yet, she was too tired to do anything about it.

As Twilight drifted back to sleep, a myriad of familiar dreams passed through her mind. They were of colorful ponies in a peaceful land. Her friends from home. She saw their smiling faces and felt the warmth of their embrace. The images blurred their way through, never stopping long enough for Twilight to remember their names.

“But they are my friends,” Twilight whispered to herself.

“Yes, they are,” came the familiar voice from behind her.

Twilight was too drowsy to flinch. Instead, she lazily turned her head around, but saw nopony there. Only darkness.

“My friends,” she whispered again as the sound of something rumbling built in the air.

Twilight hesitated. As the sound increased in volume, strange images of her friends appeared. Slowly, the names started coming back to her. She could see Rainbow Dash wrestling with somepony – or was it a pony? Then she saw Fluttershy holding Rainbow in her hooves. Darker images passed of Rarity closing her shop and of Applejack and Big Mac leaving Ponyville. There was Pinkie Pie, who had taken over Sugarcube Corner after the Cakes moved away. Twilight thought it odd how the party pony’s mane had been flat for so long. She couldn’t get her imagination to make her smile appear, even though she knew it belonged there. Then, the images turned to strange objects built across Ponyville.

“No,” Twilight muttered. “This isn’t right… none of this is right.”

“Is it not?” the voice asked.

“No… this is…” Twilight caught a glimpse of the same city she flew over just hours ago. But the memory itself didn’t belong with her either. Somehow, she could tell it was not her own.

Then, the sound around her caught her attention. It was deep and loud, filling the air. She focused her attention on the sound, and suddenly, her memories all connected at once.

Her eyes shot open. There, directly in front of her, was the filly she had just tucked into bed, a light pole lying on top of her legs. The earth around them shook, and the horizon glowed a bright orange as smoke billowed up into the sky from all around.

Twilight rushed over to the filly. As she collected both her own memories and those she had just experienced, she hesitated for a moment, then stammered, “N-Nighttide?”

The filly didn’t move. She lay there on the pavement, still and silent, only gasping every few seconds. Twilight examined the filly’s legs. They were without a doubt broken, and each one stuck up beyond the other side of the pole at a disgusting angle.

Suddenly, Twilight felt the earth beneath her shift. The entire land upon which she stood seemed to tilt at an angle. She tried to use her magic to pull the filly free, but her magic wasn’t responding. She then reached around the pole and tried to use her wings to lift it, but it simply was too heavy. There was no moving the pole off of her.

Twilight then heard another familiar sound nearby. She looked up to see a small helicopter making a hasty landing in the street in front of them. Four ponies jumped out the sides before the aircraft even touched the ground, racing toward the filly.

“You two, check the house,” called one black stallion galloping toward them. Twilight looked over at the rows of houses he suggested. Almost all of them had already collapsed in on themselves, including the one she had just been inside.

The black stallion and a brown mare beside him ran up to the filly. The two examined the light pole for a second, then nodded to each other. Both ponies aligned their rear legs with the crux of the pole, and with a shout from the stallion, the two bucked it into the street, freeing the filly from its weight.

“Let’s grab a gurney, Colonel,” the brown mare suggested.

“No, Nephilim – we don’t have time. Here,” he said as he hoisted the filly onto Nephilim’s back. The filly’s legs dangled over her sides in a gruesome manner, but Twilight saw no blood. She shuddered at the sight before realizing she had been blankly staring at the scene this whole time.

“Colonel!” Twilight shouted as she ran toward them. But they didn’t respond. “Colonel, wait!” Twilight galloped in front of them and motioned for them to stop, but they continued forward, as if they couldn’t see or hear her at all. She stepped aside with a confused expression as the two ponies headed toward the helicopter.

“Total loss,” came a shout from one of the other ponies examining the house.

“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” the Colonel shouted back. As the ponies piled into the helicopter, Twilight raced forward to try to join them, but it took off before she could jump inside.

As the helicopter gained altitude, Twilight could feel the same cold sensation from earlier surround her again. This time, she panicked, looking all around for the source. But all she could see was the shifting landscape, crumbling buildings, and what appeared to be columns of fire lighting up the horizon for miles on end.

“What!?” Twilight shrieked into the air. “What am I doing here! What is all this?!”

Somepony placed a hard, cold hoof on her withers and whispered with a familiar voice into her ear.

“This is the hell inside my head.”

__________

“NIGHTTIDE!”

Twilight bolted upright. All of her Ponyville friends stood around her with terrified expressions. She scrambled to her hooves and looked around. Just beyond her friends lay Riptide on the floor in the middle of the cavern. The ceiling was now completely dark, and Rarity’s light was the only thing illuminating the space around them.

But there was one pony missing.

“Twi, are you alright?” one of her friends asked, but she didn’t even take the time to figure out who it was.

“Nighttide!” Twilight grabbed hold of Applejack’s shoulders and shook her in place, shouting into her face. “Where’s Nighttide? Where is she?!”

“Whoa, Twilight, calm down! She’s right over—”

A deep, thick, gurgling sound came from just beyond the group. Everypony stepped back and looked.

Nighttide stood rigid with her head hung low and eyes closed a short distance away from them. The domes on her flank flashed red as an alarm sounded from somewhere within. The dark aura from before surrounded her entire body like an amorphous gel, shifting from shadow to physical form around her suit and forehead. The mare let loose a low snarl as various parts of her suit slowly began to open, the aura shooting out of them in thick globs that worked their way toward her legs.

A synthetic male voice echoed loudly from Nighttide’s suit. “Warning. Final security level breach. The Sarcophagus has been opened.”

Everyone watched in horror. Everyone, that is, except Twilight, who dared a step forward. “N-Nighttide? Nighttide, what—”

“Go back to sleep,” the mare snarled under her breath as streams of electricity began to travel across her body. Suddenly, her right-most wing and engine deployed, quickly being wrapped in the aura. Out of her left side, the remaining broken piece of her wing stuck out with a harsh sound of metal cracking as the aura wrapped around its base. In a matter of seconds, it began to manifest itself into a discernable shape.

“Her wings…” Rainbow Dash stepped up as she marveled at the sight.

The aura began to take another form on Nighttide’s forehead. Twilight blinked. “There’s no way. This… this can’t…”

With a large, black flash, the room filled with darkness again, and everyone was knocked off their hooves by a shockwave. Once Rarity’s light began to penetrate the darkness again, they could see Nighttide standing with her head held high, looking toward the ceiling.

Applejack clambered to her hooves and leaned in toward Twilight as she watched Nighttide in utter disbelief. “Twilight, is… is she an—”

“Alicorn?!” Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. Nighttide’s wing had been fully repaired, and both were now twice as big. They protruded from her sides at an upward angle and flapped once just as pegasus wings would, although with it came the grating sound of metal grinding against itself. But strangest of all, she now had a perfectly honed horn.

Whatever deliberation there was to be had would have to wait, as just then, Nighttide’s horn began to glow dark blue. The cave started to shake violently, and Twilight could see the ground underneath Riptide glowing orange. Twilight threw caution to the wind and immediately teleported herself beside Riptide. She grabbed hold of him tightly, then teleported back to where she was before – and just in time. Right where Riptide had been lying, the ground burst open as a thick plume of white hot magma shot straight up, shredding through the rock overhead as if it were paper. Everyone screamed as they ran for the corridor they had come through, except Nighttide.

“Nighttide, please!” Twilight shouted over the raging lava. “We have to get out of here!”

It was no use. Nighttide’s eyes were wide open and glowing a most vibrant hue of violet, drowning out the reflection of the lava, but she seemed to be completely oblivious of what was taking place around her. She continued to stare with an empty gaze straight up at the spire of magma as her horn glowed. She was too close for Twilight to safely teleport to her side, so she attempted to use her telekinesis from a distance to move her. But the second she tried, the shadow cast by Nighttide's body ripped itself from the ground and stood as a physical entity before the mare's closest side, causing sparks of magic to dance off its surface.

Twilight's jaw dropped at the sight. Just as she motioned to run for her, Rarity caught her by the shoulder. “Twilight, we have to get out of here!”

“But Nighttide! We can’t just—”

Before she could further argue the point, Nighttide’s leg thrusters deployed, lifting her slowly off the ground. Her left engine deployed, now fully repaired, as both engines roared to life at a volume equal to that of the spewing lava. With a single flap of her new wings, the shadow returned to its natural position, and the mare took off spiraling up around the flume of lava, beyond the cave’s ceiling.

“NIGHTTIDE, STOP!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, but to no avail. The mare had already vanished beyond the cave’s ceiling.

Everyone stared for a moment at where she disappeared before Applejack shouted, “There’s nothin’ we can do! C’mon, somepony help me with Riptide!”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash hoisted Riptide onto Applejack’s back, letting his legs sprawl out on either side of her barrel. Without further ado, Twilight grabbed Spike with her magic and set him on her back, and the group raced off through the cave.

Everypony galloped as fast as they could through the narrow corridors. Rainbow Dash ran at the head of the group. At one point, she noticed the path ahead of them was beginning to brighten, and the air from behind was quickly growing warm. She looked over her shoulder, and to her horror, she could see a column of fire quickly gaining on them.

Fluttershy was at the back of the group, barely able to keep up with the rest. The fire began licking at her tail. She tried to run faster, but the pain in her wing did everything it could to slow her down.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash flared her wings and took off just enough to reach the ceiling. Everypony raced ahead underneath before she landed next to Fluttershy, regaining the pace with her hooves.

“Fluttershy, you’ve gotta run faster!” She looked over at her friend as she galloped alongside her. Fluttershy’s face was twisted in panic and pain. Rainbow could tell she wouldn’t hold out for much longer at this rate.

“Rai… Rainb…” Fluttershy tried to speak, but she was too winded to even get a single word out. Her pace began to slow ever so slightly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash flared her wings once more, and coming to a hover over Fluttershy, she wrapped her forelegs around her barrel and flapped her wings as hard as she could. Fluttershy screamed in agony as Rainbow Dash’s legs rubbed against the base of her injured wing, but Rainbow knew that if she didn’t speed things along, there would be little left of either of them to scream.

The group came upon the river and jumped over the entire body of water. Rainbow Dash flew her friend just above its surface and let Fluttershy’s hooves touch down on the other side. Thankfully, she kept up the pace, seeming to gallop now more on instinct than anything.

The fire filled all the space behind them. Slowly, ferociously, it gained on everyone. Rainbow Dash now lagged far behind the group as she pulled her friend in tow. She wasn’t sure if they would make it out safely, but she was going to give it everything she had. With every atom of strength left in her wings, Rainbow Dash plowed forward through the air in front of them.

“Hang on, Fluttershy!” The two closed their eyes as they dove into the glistening white that lay just ahead of them.

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